Programme Consultant, Women’s Economic Empowerment

Contract

This is a National Consultant contract. More about National Consultant contracts.

Background

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality for women as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security. Placing women’s rights at the centre of all its efforts, the UN Women will lead and coordinate United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It will provide strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors. UN Women East & Southern Africa Regional Office (ESARO) maintains a large presence in the Eastern and Southern Africa region, covering 22 countries, with country offices in 12 countries and a Programme Presence in Somalia.

UN Women works on various levels to strengthen women’s economic empowerment. By supporting governments, regional bodies, and civil society to develop and implement laws, policies, programmes and services needed to ensure that the standards are effectively implemented and truly benefit women and girls. To make the vision of the Sustainable Development Goals a reality for women and girls and stand behind women’s equal participation in all aspects of life. Ensuring income security, decent work and economic autonomy for women and girls. Particularly in Africa, closing the gender gap in access to services, such as those from government or financial institutions; productive resources such as land or credit; local or international markets; opportunities earn wages or have gainful employment on terms equal to their male counterparts; would enhance the economic empowerment of women and young women resulting in significant gains in gender equality but also in national Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Women represent more than half of the agricultural workforce in Africa and thus face social, economic, and political barriers that limit their coping capacities. In many developing economies, women are charged with the responsibility to secure water, food, and fuel for cooking due to societal structures and gender roles that confine women and thus, they consequently face the greatest challenges when unfavorable weather conditions strike. When coupled with unequal access to resources and to decision-making processes, limited mobility in rural areas, this limits women to a position where they are disproportionately affected by climate change. Therefore, the discourse on gender and climate change is very relevant cognizant of the intersectionality that exist.

To offer evidence-based advocacy and programming and to provide quantitative evidence of the links between women’s empowerment, sustainable agricultural production and economic growth, UN Women Regional Office for Eastern and Southern Africa (ESARO), the UNDP-UNEP Poverty-Environment Action Africa, have undertaken a series of studies titled the cost of gender gap in agricultural productivity in five East and Southern Africa Countries. These studies provide a unique calculation of these costs in terms of lost growth opportunities and an estimate of what societies, economies and communities would gain were the gender gaps in agricultural productivity to be closed.

Justification for the assignment

UN Women and UNEP-PEA have continued with the partnership to build knowledge around gender, environment, and agriculture and through this collaboration: continued to undertake the cost of gender gap analysis in additional countries in East and Southern Africa, revision of the Climate Smart Agriculture Programme guide developed by UN Women, supporting resource mobilization efforts and advocacy on gender, environment, and agriculture among other activities. The purpose of the consultancy is to provide programme management support in the overall responsibility for planning, implementing, and managing UN Women interventions under the UNEP-Poverty Environment Action Partnership to ensure successful programme implementation.

Duties and Responsibilities

Duties and Responsibilities:

Programme Management and implementation

• Provide Programme and administrative support in the preparation of project work plans, budgets, and proposals on project implementation arrangements.
• Review the technical documents, proposals, reports and coordinate timely implementation of the project activities.
• Act as the liaison between UN Women and UNEP-PEA by providing regular feedback/updates on the progress of project.
• Develop background documents, briefs, and presentations related to the project implementation and Women’s Economic Empowerment Programme.
• Support in the coordination and organization of advocacy campaigns, events, training, workshops, and knowledge products.
• Work with UN Women’s Communication staff to ensure results, success stories, and best practices from the Programme are captured and widely shared
• Lead the development and implementation of the ShareFair on upaid-care and domestic work for ESARO.

Monitoring and reporting

• Prepare donor narrative and financial reports and timely submission of the same to UNEP-PEA and ensuring compliance to UN Women policies, processes, and procedures on narrative and financial and reporting guidelines as per the donor agreements.
• Monitor progress of implementation of activities and finances using results-based management tools.
• Support in the development of briefs, case studies, and other relevant documentation, including support resource mobilization efforts through the development of concept notes and proposals.

Deliverables

• Final approved narrative and financial donor reports prepared on the project implementation as per the donor agreement.
• Report from the dissemination of the CSA programme guide.
• Final concepts note, agenda and activity plans for the Sharefair event, including report following the completion of activity.
• Finalized cost of gender gap studies reports and briefs for the various countries.
• Results of the project implementation reflected in RMS, DAMS and UN Women websites.

Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Leading by Example

Functional Competencies

1. Ability to be flexible and respond to changes to the documents as part of the review and feedback process.
2. Demonstrated ability to meet deadlines, maintain a high-quality of deliverables and work under pressure.
3. Strong interpersonal skills, able to communicate and work with diverse people at regional and country office level.
4. Ability to work independently with limited supervision and as part of a team.
5. Strong understanding on issues related to gender issues and women’s economic empowerment.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• A Master’s degree, in a relevant social sciences field such as social policy, development studies, gender studies, economics, or another related field is required.

Experience:

• A minimum of four (4) years of experience in planning, implementation, coordination and monitoring & reporting.
• Experience in implementation of women’s economic empowerment programmes and gender issues in East and Southern Africa.
• Experience working in report writing, knowledge management and preparing communication materials.
• Experience working in East and Southern African countries within the UN system, Agencies, Funds or Programs is an asset.

Language Requirements:

• Proficiency in written and spoken English.

Application:

All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment. Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.Only shortlisted candidates will be notified.

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.).